The Captain's Heart

Chapter 15 - Time Flies when you're Immortal

Ngaio and Will had struggled at first, but they'd soon fallen into a rhythm with their new duties. This rhythm had been interrupted again, however, barely months later when they found that Ngaio was pregnant. She wanted to continue as normal but Will insisted that she rest more and let him take care of most of the Captain's Duties.

Perhaps the most worried was Bootstrap Bill Turner. The Captains had put off telling him for as long as possible, as Will had feared he might become overprotective. He was right. It became hard for Ngaio to do anything without her father-in-law appearing out of nowhere and fretting.

It took a while, but Ngaio managed to convince both Will and his father that they could take a quick detour and drop by her mother's old hut. They didn't have proper wedding rings yet, after all, and Ngaio knew that Tia Dalma had had an extensive ring collection.

They surfaced not far away from Ngaio's old home and she prepared to make the final part of the journey alone.

"Are you sure you don't want me to send a crew member with you?" The worried voice came from behind her and she smiled and turned to face her husband.

"I'll be fine. I'm not going to be gone for long." He took her hand.

"Well still be careful."

"Come on, when have I ever not been careful?" He opened his mouth to reply but she cut in again quickly. "Don't answer that." He laughed and pulled her into a hug.

"Just don't kill anyone and don't get killed."

"You got it, Captain." She gave him a mock salute before heading off towards the hut.

It felt odd, being back. She'd grown up here, but it felt so distant now. Times had changed drastically. She lit a candle and carried it through to the room she knew her mother's old jewellery to be in, among other things. Unfortunately, she had absolutely no idea which box the rings were in. She placed the candle down and picked up the closest box, prepared to search through them all. As luck would have it, she didn't need to. Still, she'd have to look for the best rings which could take a while.

Barely minutes later, Ngaio's thoughts were disturbed by the faint sound of footsteps. She narrowed her eyes but the footsteps seemed to stop. Maybe she'd just imagined it. She continued her search for the perfect rings but was interrupted again when a pair of hands slammed down on her shoulders and someone shouted "boo!" from behind her.

She snapped her head around and was pleasantly surprised to see her sister standing there.

"Celeste!" She put the box down and wrapped her sister in a big hug. The Pirate King, however, looked surprised and looked her up and down.

"You're... you're... PREGNANT?" She exclaimed.

"Oh, really? I didn't know." The corner of her lip curled up and her voice dropped with sarcasm.

"I can't believe it. I'm going to be an aunt!"

"Yes, and I'm not quite sure if that's a good thing or not." Ngaio laughed.

"I've missed you." Celeste hugged her more gently this time, something she'd gotten used to people doing by now. Much as she disliked it, she'd have to put up with being treated as a bit more fragile for now.

"I've missed you too, Cel."

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I came for two of mum's rings. Will and I still don't have wedding rings." She explained, picking the box back up.

"We really are twins. I came to get a ring for Jack as he still doesn't have one." Ngaio glanced at the ring on her sister's finger before carefully selecting three from the box. Two of them were similar - silver with a red stone in the middle and the pirate's skull and crossbones carved into the inside. She'd been eyeing them up for a while. The third ring was gold with an emerald in the middle, and she handed it to her sister.

"I think Jack would like this one. Plus, it goes with yours."

"Thanks, Gaia." That was a nickname she hadn't heard in a while. It had been given to her by Tia Dalma herself.

"No problem."

They walked together to the ships, but stopped on the sand before the Dutchman and the other ship. It wasn't the Black Pearl.

"Where's the Pearl? What happened?"

"Barbossa happened. He stole the ship when we went to go resupply in Tortuga."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

"I really should've seen it coming but I wanted yo get off the ship for a little while and Jack had left Gibbs with the ship so we had hoped that the Pearl would still be there by the time we returned."

"Well, if I see Barbossa I'll give him hell for you. And maybe get the Pearl back, if I can."

"Thanks." She smiled. They began walking towards the ships again.

"So how did you get this ship?"

"We stole it. Jack and I had been sailing around in a dingy for almost a month, maybe more, and we were getting nowhere fast so we decided we needed to procure a ship."

"Have you run into the former owners yet?"

"Yep. Turns out he already hates Hack and I'm sure he is not happy with me after I knocked him out and ran off with his ship again." Ngaio laughed and called up to Will to throw them down a net for them to climb up.

Ngaio climber up first and was greeted by Will at the top. He helped her get down and although the help was unnecessary, she did appreciate the sentiment.

"When did that happen?" Jack announced his presence by looking rather unsettled at the sight of Ngaio's swollen stomach.

"Four months ago." Will replied, squeezing her hand.

"So that means you get to be an Uncle, Jack." Celeste said, walking over to him, "and I get to be an aunt."

"Wether that good or not is yet to be determined." "Hey, I would be a cool aunt."

"That's the problem. You'd probably have them drinking rum by the age of nine."

"I was drinking rum by the age of seven and I turned out all right." They all turned to look at Jack.

"Well that certainly explains a few things." Ngaio laughed, and the others joined in.

Will and Ngaio officially exchanged rings before sitting down for a drink with Jack and Celeste. At least, Will did. Bootstrap Bill has insisted that Ngaio didn't drink any rum at all through the pregnancy and she'd agreed, if just to stop him from nagging.

Eventually, Will asked the question they'd both had on their minds for a while - what was the plan? Where were they going, and why?

"Immortality." Was the answer. The Captains of the Flying Dutchman frowned.

"Immortality isn't as good as it seems."

"It will be different though. We won't be killing any murderous, sadistic parents. We're searching for the fountain of youth. Or at least, we were."

"I take it you haven't had much luck."

"I can't say we have." Ngaio paused.

"I'm sure you'll get there eventually." She replied, although it was hesitant. She wasn't so sure this was as great of an idea as they thought it was, but she didn't say so. She'd support her sister to the end, if there was one.

The conversation soon turned to Will and Ngaio and they put most talks of the fountain behind them. By sunset, Celeste and Jack were ready to go and Will and Ngaio were ready to go back to ferrying souls. Ngaio looked out at her sister's ship as they sunk below the waves, and her husband's hand touched hers.

"You don't think they should go after the fountain, do you?"

"No. But... I didn't want to ruin it for them. With any luck, they won't find it."

"And if they do?"

"I don't know."